Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has agreed to acquire the American gaming company Electronic Arts in a deal worth about 55 billion dollars. The agreement, reported on August 6, 2026, will take EA off the stock market.
Electronic Arts, the publisher behind FIFA, The Sims, Battlefield and Need for Speed, has been sold to a consortium built around Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), DR reports. The fund is controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and will be the majority owner.
The price is 55 billion dollars, or roughly 356 billion kroner. As part of the transaction, EA leaves the stock market after 36 years as a publicly listed company. DR describes the purchase as one of the largest ever made in the video games industry.
The only larger deal in the sector remains Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company behind Call of Duty. That purchase was completed in 2023 for 69 billion dollars, about 446 billion kroner, as reported by the BBC at the time.
Part of a wider Saudi gaming push
Saudi Arabia has spent years expanding its presence in sport, e-sports and gaming. Last year the crown prince announced an ambition to develop 30 new games able to compete with the international publishers. That plan is backed by the state fund Savvy Games Group, with investments of around 246 billion kroner, according to DR.
Danish gaming expert Thomas Bense told DR’s P1 Morgen that Saudi Arabia wants to become for gaming what Hollywood is for film. Per Bense, the goal is a hub where gaming becomes one of the country’s biggest business areas after oil.
Critics have called the investments in football, e-sports and games sportswashing and soft power. They argue that the kingdom uses sport and entertainment to shift attention away from restrictions on human rights, press freedom and freedom of expression. Bense notes that the acquired products come with large fan bases of children and young people.
The gamer group Players Alliance HQ has responded by urging players to sign a petition against the deal. On its campaign site Block the EA Deal, the group calls on competition authorities in the United States, the EU and the United Kingdom to stop the transaction. It writes that PIF’s majority ownership raises concern that creative decisions could be influenced by external factors.
According to the group, themes such as freedom of expression, gender and LGBTQI+ issues could be reduced or censored across major franchises. Bense adds that deals of this size make competition harder for smaller and more original developers, who face companies with far larger marketing budgets.
As of August 6, no press release or regulatory filing from EA, PIF or Savvy Games Group had been published confirming the structure of the transaction. Details such as the exact ownership split, closing date and required approvals remain unconfirmed by official sources.
